2011 Year in Review 

 

Thanks to Citizens Project's inspired leadership, our volunteers, interns, collaborators, supporters and activists, 2011 was an incredible year! Below are just a few of the things we were able to accomplish with your help:

 

Awards

Citizens Project received several honors over the last year including: the Gay & Lesbian Fund Advancing Equality Award, "Ally of the Year" from the Colorado Springs Pride Center, and the "Steady and Strong for Diversity and Inclusion" award from the Colorado Springs Diversity Forum.

 

Collaboration

CP, in close collaboration with the Women's Resource Agency, Inside/Out Youth Services and many more, worked to re-invigorate the Pikes Peak Equality coalition, a group of local nonprofits dedicated to opportunity and access for all community members. Through our collective efforts, we made more than 3,000 contacts with voters in the general election cycle, reminding them to cast their ballots. 

 

Voter Education

2011 was an exciting year in local elections: from the April municipal election and subsequent mayoral runoff election, to the November general election, there were many candidates vying for the votes of Pikes Peak residents. Citizens Project continued our 19-year tradition of providing nonpartisan election education information for all local elections through well-attended Mayoral and City Council forums, and a School Board Candidate and ballot measure forum. In addition, we published two comprehensive candidate survey Voter Guides, one for the municipal election and one for the general election. 

 

Read about all our 2011 activities...

Citizens Project celebrates incoming, outgoing board members

 

Citizens Project is proud to announce six new members for its board of directors in 2012: William Brown, Frances Gomeztagle, Pete Lee, Barbara Reichert, Brinah Vincent, and Heather Zambrano.

 

The 2012 Citizens Project officers will be: Erin Hannan, Board Chair; Steve Mack, Treasurer; and Kelley Parker, Secretary. Citizens Project also thanks our 2011 officers: Lynn Young, Board Chair; Karole Campbell, Treasurer, and Kelley Parker, Secretary.

 

The organization thanks its departing members for their tremendous service to the organization: Sharon Berthrong, J.J. Courtright, Una Ng-Brasch, and Ron Walden.

Passion vs. Principles: "Personhood"

 

The following is a response by Ken Burrows to a column which appeared in The Gazette on November 19.

 

While I respect Leslie Hanks's personal beliefs, even her zeal, about when human life should be designated as a person ("'Extreme' action needed when pre-born babies' lives at stake," Nov. 20), I would argue that in the legal realm on this issue passion is no substitute for principle, because protecting our individual liberties is also at stake. Hanks's ardor, as reflected in Colorado Right to Life's published positions, is premised on specifically religious tenets of when "personhood" begins. Her advocacy for a personhood amendment is nothing less than an attempt to legally impose those tenets on all of us even if we and our differing religious traditions do not all hold them to be valid.

 

Her effort to draw an analogy between protecting the rights of every post-fertilization life form and protecting the rights of slaves in the abolitionist struggle is logically flawed and circular. That comparison works only if one presupposes as a given the very position she is advocating-that personhood begins at fertilization. There simply are no rights to protect until you embrace the premise that blastocysts, zygotes, embryos, and fetuses are "persons." Meanwhile in the process, she would severely restrict the rights of her fellow citizens according to her selective religious beliefs, something she made no mention of in her opinion piece (nor did the normally reliable libertarian Wayne Laugesen do so in his earlier commentary on this topic). Under our principle of ensuring individual religious liberty, this matters.

 

Defining "personhood" as beginning at fertilization is simply not the realm of science or law but rather of disciplines such as philosophy and religion, where convictions vary. Even iconic religious thinkers such as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas said they could not be certain when personhood begins, and there is no unanimity today. Personhood definition measures propose solving this religious mystery by forcing everyone to accept the presumption a majority of us might arrive at. This is flirting with theocracy.

 

By all means, Hanks is free to try to persuade others toward her beliefs, which is not the same as coercing others legally to abide by them. She is personally free to follow the dictates of her religion and conscience. But so do the rest of us have these same freedoms. For that reason, personhood amendments that seek to encode religious ideology into law should always and everywhere be rejected.

Get Involved

 

Civil Unions Campaign Kickoff Event with One Colorado

 

In March 2011, when civil unions legislation was killed, we vowed to keep fighting until LGBT families have the critical legal protections they need. 

 

Now, as the legislative session approaches, we're ready to officially kick off our 2012 civil unions campaign. 

 

Will you show your support for civil unions and join One Colorado and the Voices for Strong Families Coalition for our campaign kick off?

 

At this special event in Colorado Springs, we will hear from local community leaders, couples, and parents who are standing up in support of this critical legislation for Colorado families. This will be followed by a small reception with light appetizers and music. All are welcome.

 

RSVP and more info

 

Articles of Interest

Recent CP Blog Posts
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Upcoming Events

       

Civil Unions Kickoff Event 

RSVP and more info

   

Educating Children of Color Summit

Citizens Project's 20th Anniversary Divine Award Celebration Thursday, February 2, 2012
5-7pm
Stargazers Theater

10 Parkside Drive  

 

 

Exploring Diversity Issues Brownbag Series: The Loving Story

February 3, 2012

 12-2pm

Division J, West Tower of the Terry Harris Judicial Complex, 270 S. Tejon  

 

3rd Annual Citizens' Religious Freedom Institute: Religion in Public Schools

Saturday, March 10, 2012

9am-5pm

Slocum Commons, Colorado College

Get more information and register   

  

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